Australia v England: Teams

England coach Steve McNamara has made wholesale changes for the must-win Four Nations showdown with Australia on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.

McNamara has decided to wield the axe after his team's 24-10 loss to New Zealand in their opening fixture in the tournament.

He was always going to have to make at least one alteration to his starting XIII after centre Michael Shenton was ruled out with an ankle injury.

However the former Bradford boss has decided to take drastic action after the reverse against the Kiwis, with just six players occupying the same positions as they did last Saturday.

Debuts

Huddersfield duo Leroy Cudjoe and Shaun Lunt and Warrington forward Ben Harrison have been handed debuts, while Joel Tomkins and Luke Robinson are promoted from the bench.

Cudjoe is a straight replacement for Shenton in a reshuffled back-line.

Gareth Widdop - who will miss out on the chance to play for his country on his home ground of AAMI Park - and Kevin Brown have both been dropped.

Wigan's Sam Tomkins moves to full-back in place of Widdop, while Sean O'Loughlin switches from loose forward to stand-off to play alongside scrum-half Robinson in a new-look half-back pairing.

In the pack, Sam Burgess shifts to prop, allowing Joel Tomkins to start in the second row, and Ben Westwood is now at loose forward.

Eorl Crabtree replaces fellow Huddersfield prop Darrell Griffin on a bench that also includes Lunt and Harrison. The alterations mean that Harlequins centre Tony Clubb and Warrington prop Garreth Carvell are the only members of the 24-man squad yet to feature on tour.

However, McNamara has defended his much-changed line-up for a game England must win if they are to have any hope of reaching the final.

"We've one enforced change through injury and we've three players who have missed out and three who come in, it's as simple as that," he said.

"We've selected what we think is the right team to play Australia and we're pretty comfortable with what we've got.

"There are some young boys who didn't play in the first two games that have been extremely good and are ready to play."

The England boss found an unlikely supporter in Australian counterpart Tim Sheens, who is wary of what the fresh faces could produce this weekend.

"Some of the changes I think are very, very good and obviously very dangerous for us, particularly the full-back," he said.

"Sam (Burgess) has played plenty of football up front and that will give him more ball. Sometimes the second rowers don't get enough ball.

"The more ball he gets and the more room the full-back gets, the more worried we are.

"The guys you don't know much about, the younger ones, are always a concern because they're enthusiastic. They could do anything and you can't prepare."

Unchanged Kangaroos

As for his own side, Sheens has kept faith with the team that comfortably saw off Papua New Guinea at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney last Sunday.

Second rower Anthony Watmough and centre Brent Tate have overcome groin and neck injuries respectively, meaning the biggest concern for the Kangaroos going into the game is the possible change in weather.

While warm on Friday, the sunshine is expected to give way to heavy thunderstorms in Melbourne by the time the game kicks off.

"We had a rehearsal for that last weekend (against Papua New Guinea)," said Sheens. "Conditions were pretty miserable at Parramatta Stadium.

"I'm sure both teams would like dry conditions - you can use your quicker people - but it comes down then to more a forward grind and a good kicking game and I think we've got a pretty strong kicking game.

"And a lot of this team played here earlier this year against New Zealand in wet conditions."

England: S Tomkins (Wigan); D Goulding (Wigan), L Cudjoe (Huddersfield), R Atkins (Warrington), T Briscoe (Hull); S O'Loughlin (Wigan), L Robinson (Huddersfield); J Graham (St Helens, capt), J Roby (St Helens), S Burgess (South Sydney), G Ellis (Wests Tigers), J Tomkins (Wigan), B Westwood (Warrington).
Subs: S Lunt (Huddersfield), S Fielden (Wigan), E Crabtree (Huddersfield), B Harrison (Warrington).

Australia: B Slater (Melbourne); B Morris (St George Illawarra), B Tate (NZ Warriors), W Tonga (North Queensland), L Tuqiri (Wests Tigers); D Lockyer (Brisbane, capt), C Cronk (Melbourne); N Myles (Sydney Roosters), C Smith (Melbourne), P Civoniceva (Penrith), L Lewis (Penrith), S Thaiday (Brisbane), P Gallen (Cronulla).
Subs: D Shillington (Canberra), T Learoyd-Lars (Canberra), A Watmough (Manly), K Gidley (Newcastle).

Referee: T Archer (Australia).